The Artsakh Foreign Ministry commented on the adoption of resolutions by the European Parliament on EU-Armenia and EU-Azerbaijan relations.
“We welcome the appeals addressed to the authorities of Azerbaijan in the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament on March 15, 2023, by the Trilateral Declaration of November 9, 2020, to ensure the freedom and safety of movement through the Lachin Corridor, as well as to fulfill the 2023 order of the UN International Court of Justice. Their obligations are defined by the decision of February 22. In this regard, we would like to let you know that we would like to support the European Parliament to the Council of the EU to apply targeted sanctions against the state officials of Azerbaijan, if the decision of the International Court of Justice,e of February 22, 2023, is not implemented immediately
We consider it essential that the European Parliament has acknowledged in its resolutions that the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, which has lasted for more than three decades and resulted in tens of thousands of victims, enormous destruction, and the forced displacement of thousands of people, remains unresolved.
In particular, the members of the European Parliament expressed fair and justified concern over the fact that the provisions of the cease-fire declaration of November 9, 2020, adopted after the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan, were not fully implemented. Deadly military clashes regularly break out, the cease-fire regime has been repeatedly violated, which has led to hundreds of victims and the new occupation of the territories of the Republic of Armenia by Azerbaijani troops; and since December 12, 2022, the traffic between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin Corridor has been blocked, which negatively affects the supply of food and other essential goods to Artsakh.
In its resolution on EU-Azerbaijan relations, the European Parliament also accepted and condemned Turkey’s expansionist and destabilizing role in the South Caucasus, which was also manifested by the sending of Syrian mercenaries to the conflict zone by Azerbaijan to participate in hostilities, and stated that Turkey needs to play a constructive role in the region. It will review its unconditional support to Azerbaijan and take tangible steps to normalize relations with Armenia.
We share the position of the MEPs that achieving a stable and lasting peace through military means, force, or the threat of force is impossible. Still, a comprehensive political settlement is necessary based on international law, including the UN Charter and the 1975 Convention. By the three principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity, equality, and self-determination of peoples stipulated in the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, as well as the 2009 fundamental principles of the OSCE Minsk Group.
In this regard, we agree with the members of the European Parliament that to achieve comprehensive peace, it is necessary to stop all violence and eliminate the root causes of the conflict, including the security and rights of the Artsakh Armenians, the determination of the final status of Artsakh, as well as the quick return of all refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes, with a safe return solution.
We are sure that the resolutions of the European Parliament, including the recommendations on imposing sanctions on Azerbaijani officials, will be an essential contribution to the joint efforts aimed at ending the blockade and stopping Azerbaijan’s criminal plans to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocide in Artsakh,” the Artsakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
